W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

alphas becoming increasingly picky about their mates.Werewolves would describe specific characteristics thatthey desired and expected the Apis to deliver. Some evenbegan to pride themselves on how discerning they were,bragging that they had turned away two, or four, or morepotential mates before finding one that they deemedacceptable. The Apis always seemed to find someonewho suited, but the werewolves’ cavalier attitudes tothe Apis’ sacred duty lit a fire within the wereaurochs’hearts, kindling a Rage that the whole breed could feel.The Garou also neglected the children they hadleft in the Apis’s care. The Apis considered it theirresponsibility to discover and enhance their charges’natural talents; the Garou prized warriors above all else.Even as a young child, a born warrior could bring gloryto his parent. Garou parents convinced themselves thattheir children should be warriors not out of any regardfor the child, but because it would please the werewolf.Werewolves would return from long campaigns and insistthat the Apis had made their child weak by teaching hermusic, animal husbandry, agriculture, mysticism, or otheringlorious arts according to her natural inclinations. Thatinsistence stoked the fire of Rage into a mighty blaze.No one knows what finally broke the Apis’s overtaxedpatience, but when it happened, it happened all at once.Overnight, the Apis withdrew from every Garou community.The Garou were surprised and inconvenienced,but above all, they were offended. From their point ofview, the Apis had not just broken their promises, theyhad forsaken the Breed’s sacred duty before Gaia.The Garou retaliated, heaping further insult uponthe Apis. They accused the wereaurochs of cowardice,saying that they fled Garou communities because theyfeared defending young werewolves against the Wyrm.The Apis could have tolerated any other lie, but theclaim that they would not protect children placed intheir care was more than they could bare. Around theworld, wereaurochs issued a challenge to those Garouwho had tried their patience, inviting them all to asingle location where the two Breeds could settle theirdifferences in combat.This was their great mistake.Even after everything they had put up with, the Apisdid not want to go to war with the werewolves. Theythought that their traditional duels would teach humilityto both the Garou they beat and those septs that heardof what happened. The Apis wanted to prove a pointand regain their dignity. Some even hoped that afterthey had shamed the Garou, they could return to theircommunities to work together once again.The Garou had no desire to indulge some symbolicduel in the name of tradition or propriety. These were232CHANGING BREEDSthe heady days of the werewolves’ power, close to thestart of the War of Rage, and the Garou had a taste forspilling Fera blood. The Apis wanted to remain neutralin the upcoming conflict. They refused to believe talesof the werewolves’ deeds. The Apis prepared to duel; theGarou prepared for slaughter. Many Apis died in thosefirst battles against the werewolves. Far more died whenthey saw what was happening and unchained their Rageagainst the werewolves. The rest died as they tried to flee.Not all the Apis were at that first and terrible battle.When they heard what had happened, they went tothe other Changing Breeds — many of which were alsotargets of the Garou’s rage — and begged for protection.The Garou, drunk on blood and power, saw the otherChanging Breeds conspiring against them and knewthey had all betrayed Gaia. By seeking shelter amongenemies of the Garou, the surviving Apis were no betterthan the other Breeds.Ironically, the very Changing Breeds the Apis approachedfor shelter had thought the wereaurochs to bethe Garou’s allies, helping the werewolves to replenishtheir numbers even as their victims died in droves. Mostrefused to help the Apis. Left with nowhere to turn, theGarou hunted the Apis to near-extinction.Minotaurs and TimeWhen their numbers dwindled to single digits andit became clear that the end was nigh, a handful of Apistook a desperate chance to try to save their kind. Callingthemselves “Last Hope”, the young and strongest of theBreed set off into the depths of the Deep Umbra. There,they hoped to find long-forgotten secrets to restore theirnumbers. If time and fortune were on their side, theymight return before the rest of the Apis — the elderlyand very young — perished.But fortune fell against the wereaurochs.Those who awaited their return died in disappointment.The Apis left behind fell to disease, to violence,or to the ravages of time. None of them ever saw LastHope again, and, as a group, the desperate travelersnever returned.Hope is a stronger force than many recognize, andtime is a tricky thing in the Deep Umbra.Thousands of years after Last Hope set out on theirfateful journey, a single wereauroch returned, onlyto discover his family long-forgotten; the loss drovehim mad. He frenzied, over and over, until he lostall ability to assume any form other than Minotaur.Eventually, he was captured by humans who saw himas an evil monstrosity, rather than a former protectorof their kind. His tale, twisted and embellished upon,serves as source material for many minotaur mythsthroughout history.